Reproductive health in sierra leonean refugees in Guinea: a knowledge, attitude and practice survey
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Date
2002
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Limburgs Universitair Centrum
Abstract
Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV/AIDS, spread more fast
where there is poverty, powerlessness and social instability. The disintegration
of community and family life in refugee situations leads to the break-up of sta
ble relationships and the disruption of social norms governing sexual behavior.
In refugee situations, populations that have different rates of HIV/AIDS prior
to becoming refugees may be mixed. In addition, many refugee situations are
like large urban settings and may create conditions that increase the risk of
sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Therefore, in order to have effec
tive health promotion programs, knowledge on behavioral aspects is required
to identify at-risk populations and develop targeted prevention programs with
appropriate prevention messages.
The objective of this thesis is to assess the prevalence of relevant knowledge
and attitude with respect to STDs and AIDS and to identify subgroups, which
are in particular need of the RHG’s intervention. More specifically: to assess
knowledge about how to prevent and recognize STDs, to identify the most
important source of information on STDs, to assess perceived incidence of
genital ulcer and genital discharge, to learn about treatment seeking behavior,
to assess knowledge about AIDS prevention, to assess perceived risk to attract
AIDS and to have an indication whether knowledge and perception have in
fluenced sexual behavior among refugees of reproductive age (15-49 years).
In order to accomplish this goal, logistic regression models, which have become
the standard analyzing tool for binary responses in a variety of disciplines, were
used to describe the relationships between the responses and the explanatory
variables of age, sex, education level, religion, time of arrival in Guinea, civil
status, marital status and presence of partner.
Teenagers, non-reproductive health group clients and non-school attendants
had less STD symptoms knowledge than the older age groups, reproductive
health group clients and school attendants (0/1=0.186, CI: 0.072, 0.479),
(077=0.402, CI: 0.204, 0.793), (077=0.221, CI: 0.095, 0.517) respectively.
Women were about 2.5 times more likely to describe STD symptoms than
men (CI: 1.206, 5.024).
Non-school attendants and non-RHG clients had less STD prevention knowl
edge than those who have attended school and RHG clients (0/2=0.609, C.I:
0.447, 0.829) and (077=0.483, C.I: 0.349, 0.667) respectively. Over one-quarter (27%) of all the respondents reported that they had experi
enced genital discharge, genital ulcer or both within the past one year. The
perceived incidence for women was 30.3% and 23.6% for men. The most af
fected refugees were of ages between 20 and 29 years. For this group, the odds
of STD incidence were about 53% more than the odds of STD incidence for
respondents aged 30 years and above (CI: 1.051, 2.222).
Approximately 78% of all perceived STD patients sought advice at a health
facility although women were loss likely to seek advice at a health facility than
men (077=0.483, CI: 0.241, 0.970). In contrast, women were about 2.1 times
more likely to visit traditional healers than men (CI: 1.123, 4.027). 71.4% of
all STD patients reported that they told their partners about their symptoms.
Those who sought advice at a health facility were more likely to tell their
partners than those who did not seek advice at a health facility.
Women scored high in knowledge about AIDS and were also more likely to
perceive themselves to be at high risk for HIV than men (O7?=1.531, CI:
1.13S, 2.059). However, they were less likely to report personal changes in
their sexual behavior to avoid HIV transmission than men (077=0.710, CI:
0.527, 0.955).
Description
Masters of Science in Applied Statistics
Keywords
Health, Sierra leonean refugees-Guinea, Knowledge, Attitude, Practice survey